Potcoin Value Soars Thanks To Dennis Rodman’s Trip To North Korea

Potcoin, the digital cryptocurrency similar to bitcoin but aimed at the legal marijuana market, got much-needed publicity by sponsoring Dennis Rodman’s trip to North Korea.

According to a report in Business Insider, the value of Potcoin jumped nearly 97 percent, to more than $0.18, in trading on Tuesday after Rodman was photographed wearing a Potcoin T-shirt when he arrived in the country. Potcoin is addressing the pot market, which is still illegal on the federal level, which means banks won’t accept pot businesses cash as a form of currency or open lines of credit for the industry.

While the fact that pot is illegal on the federal level is hurting companies’ ability to access regular banking services, there is a movement afoot to help these thriving businesses. A bipartisan bill that’s being sponsored by eight senators is making the rounds and is aimed at blocking federal banking regulators from pushing a financial institution to stop serving marijuana businesses or the businesses’ landlords or lawyers in states where the drug has been made legal for medical or recreational purposes. The government would also not be allowed to give banks incentives to cut off the businesses.

The rule would serve as an extension of an Obama-era policy that gave banks guidance on working with cannabis-related businesses and staying within the law. Mostly that guidance served to convince many FIs that the best way to avoid trouble with the law was to avoid the sector entirely. The argument: Compliance with complex requirements was too expensive and did not assure them they would not be prosecuted in the future.

As a result, cannabis dispensaries operate as all-cash businesses — or lie to their banks about what it is they actually do. This bill is not the first attempt at such legislation — the pot caucus has pushed similar legislation in the past and managed more support with each effort. There is a thought that the legislation might actually pass the nearly evenly divided Senate.